Jonathan thomas



y,J @einen 4taire @M2M @frn JONATHAN THOMAS, MOUNT UNION,` OHIO. Letters Patent No. v65,025, datecl Mag/.21, 18,67.

FENCE'.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY GONCERN: A v

Be itv known that I, JONATHAN THOMAS, of MountA Union, in the county of Stark, and State of Ohio, have invented a Anew and useful improvement in Fences; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, cleair and exacudescription of--the nature, construction, and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are made part of this specification, and in whiclin-y Y Figure' 1 'is a perspective view of a field fence made according to my invention. i Figures 2, 3, and 4 are detached riews, illustrating thefconstruction of, and Inode of connecting, the several parts. v

Similar letters el' reference indicate corresponding'parts in lthe two figures. The i'cnc.e,tho subject of this application, is composed of taut horizontal supporting wires andthe bar or hoop iron, vthe latter being applied to the wires by crimpingr alone, or by crimping and rivet-ing, so as to form a iirnr and durablestructure, which shall remainl unimpaired under the actonof moisture or the lapse of time. The 'posts are made of heavier har iron, bont in the form of an inverted lL the flanges on the bottom ot' which enable them to be bolted to a stone or other suitable base, to preserve the iron from the injurious action which L Jwouldresult from embedding in the ground. l

"` In order that others.I skilled in thc art to which my invention anncrtains may bey enabled to fully understand and use the sa.1ne,I will proceed to describe it in eetnil. v

In the accompanying drawings, A A A represent the fcnce-posts, which are made of bar iron in the form of an inrerted U, which notA only affords great strength with economy of material, but facilitates the attachment of the wires which are used in the formation .of the intermediate sections of the fence. B B B represent strips or pieces of har or hoop iron, and C C the taut horizontal wires which ailord themeans of attachment and support i'or said strips B, the wires being fastened to the posts in any suitablemanner, as, for example, by means ot' the threaded eye-bolts D, which pass through the iron posts, and are held therein by nuts d, or through the medium ot' tho bent rods E, the threaded horizontal portions c of which'passthrough the posts, and are likewise secured by nuts ri; When made in thc form of vertical rails or palings, as shown at Bl, the strips B are attached to the wires C by bending their ends around the wire and crimping, as shown at b. When thc strips 13 are bcntin thc form ot' a V, their crotch bl rests upon or straddles the upper wire, while their lower ends are crimped te the lower wire, 'as shown at b2. If made in the form ot' a picket felice, as at B2, each ot' the pointed palings, (consisting of a strip of bar or hoop iron, as thc other) is bent upwithits two. sides in close proximity. I In the latter casethe horizontal iron rails F are embraced between the two vertical portions of the paling B, and the crotch at thc lower end of the paling straddles the under side of the lower wire O. The palings thus p made, with the two parallel vertical portions, may be crimped to the upperwire, or secured thereto'by riveting, as shown at r. The posts A may be supported upon a stone or other suitable base, Gr, to which the flanges a a. ofthe posts are fastened by bolts, which may extend entirely through the base, or thc bolts extend only partially through the base, as shown art I, iig. 2, in which ease the space around the bolt is iillcd with lead or cement, The iron posts are only needed at corners and junctions, all the others beingv plain wooden posts, to which the i iron t'ence is secured by nails or sta-ples. I

As it may be necessary to make provisions for contraction and expansion, which occur ,inl cold and warm weather, respectively, I have shown two modes of doing it. One mode consists inthe application of U-shap'ed springs'J, iig. 4, to one of the wooden posts at the middle et' a section, to the extremities ofwlrieh springs thel ends of the wires O C arc-attached. The other mode consists in forming' a. helical spring of the wire itself at the end thereof, as shown at K; but, as the wires C may not be suiiicicntly stout or elastic, I prefer to employ a separate spring of larger wire as the means of connecting the e'nds of thc wires C to the posts A. L L represent the iron braces, which may be applied in any desired manner; but, of the two lmodes represented, I prefer the one represented at L, in which the post bolt, to which the supportingwire C isv attached, passes through an eye in the end of the brace, the other end ofthe brace being fixed in a base in the ground, or other" wise made secure. Wire, applied in the same way as the strips B, may be used inl lieu ofthe latter, if preferred. Having thus described my invention, the following is 'what I claim as new herein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination of the horizontal wires C C with the strips B Bl looped around them, substantially as shown and described.

2. I claim the posts A, constructed of' bar iron in U-form, with the flanges at bottom to adapt them to be bolted to a. base, substantially as described.

3. The springs J J, adapted and employed to opel-:ite substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JONATHAN THOMAS.

Witnesses:

CLARKSON BARNABY, E. T. CONN. 

